Reforming fair price shops in Karnataka

Reforming fair price shops
Monday June 30 2008 10:33 IST
Y G Muralidharan

THE raids conducted by the Minister and Commissioner in-charge of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs soon after assuming office, have sent out signals to those running Fair Price Shops (FPS). One only hopes that this initial euphoria will not fizzle out.

Such raids should cover food offices too, where the malady really lies. The irregularities found in Mysore or other places are only the tip of the iceberg. Throughout the State (even the country), the Public Distribution System (PDS) is in a mess, with corruption, blackmarketing and diversion of grains rampant.

According to the recent Corruption Report 2007, by the Centre for Media Studies and Transparency International, the PDS stands at position nine, with respect to the number of bribes paid by BPL households.

Karnataka finds a place among the very-high corruption states. Ten percent of all BPL card holders paid a bribe of Rs 458 million in 2007 to staff members/officers.

A similar study, exclusively for Karnataka, will make things more clear. At a public hearing held at Maddur by the Consumer Rights Education and Awareness Trust (CREAT) three months ago, over 100 (mostly women) consumers revealed how they are denied their regular quota of grains and kerosene.

Asking for a bill has come to mean paying 50 paise extra. The shops are open once or twice a week, the timings never followed and consumers are forced to pay one rupee extra per kg of rice. None of the participants were aware of the Jan Kerosene scheme.

Food inspectors at the village and some taluks are not aware of the Citizens Charter issued by the department. Expecting consumers to know about it is out of the question. The FPSs in Maddur have not exhibited the charter or the list of members of the Vigilance Committees of the FPS. Confusion about issuing BPL ration cards and the eligibility criteria is another major issue.

Similar issues were raised at hearings in Magadi a few years ago. An application filed by CREAT, under the Right to Information Act to the Department, has revealed that the Prevention of Blackmarketing of Essential Commodities Act has never been invoked in the last 3 years.

Citizens using the RTI Act, seeking stock records, registers and samples from FPSs have been threatened of dire consequences. Any step to reform ration shops should begin with the departments and institutions before moving to FPSs.

The involvement of consumer groups, women's associations and other organisations are essential. Interactive sessions at the gram panchayat level will play a key role. The Department will also do well to identify a few FPSs in the State and make a pilot study of the issues involved, to asses how performance could be improved.

The Nagarakere gram panchayat of Maddur taluk has one FPS that runs as per the norms, and yet makes reasonable profit. Why not others?

ENS